Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-lcc!ames!mailrus!iuvax!bobmon
From: bobmon@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu (RAMontante)
Newsgroups: comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d
Subject: Re: Rd: Re: software other than utilities
Message-ID: <16129@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu>
Date: 3 Jan 89 20:43:42 GMT
Reply-To: bobmon@iuvax.UUCP (RAMontante)
Organization: malkaryotic
Lines: 40

I have sent the moderator an RPN-calculator program, which will
hopefully show up in a couple of weeks.  I don't think it's a utility,
although I do think it's useful.

It doesn't pause for input after showing the answer, and ask  "Enter new
numbers:" -- in the manner of an RPN calculator, you have to key in the
number and THEN Enter  :-)

Along those lines --
 
rickc@agora.UUCP (Rick Coates) writes:
>amlovell@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Anthony M Lovell):
>>> 
>>> I will soon send him a program to calculate the position of the planets -
>>> does that count as a non-utility?
>> 
>> OK, but only if you avoid the annoying hallmarks of the DOS time and
>> date commands:  ie: don't have it pause for input after printing the
>> plantary coordinates, asking "Enter new Coordinates:".
>> 
>
>Hmmm, maybe I should wait, and see if other people would use it.  I'm
>afraid I don't understand this comment at all.  Right now, the command 'planet'

I read it as a joke.  Consider the MSDOS "DATE" command, which
Microsoft and IBM probably think of as a "utility" (rather than one
more piece of incriminating evidence).  If the 'planet' program also
wanted one to change every answer it generated, it would meet the
criterion for a "utility".  How you would actually reset the hardware
in this case is an interesting programming issue :-)

>I will be doing a similar command for the Moon and (probably) the Sun.

Please don't write any "When will the Sun go nova?" utilities. :-) :-) :-)
Barring that, I look forward to 'em.

>(note the year is 1988 - #!%$&# PC can't handle year changes, and I haven't
>changed mine yet!)

Huhhhh???????????  Mine caught the new year 3 hours before I did.